'Zen as it is related to the mind
of the haiku poet is dealt with under
thirteen headings. selflessness, loneliness, grateful acceptance, wordlessness,
non-intellectuality, contradiction, humor, freedom, non-morality,
simplicity, materiality, love, courage
These are some of the characteristics of the state of mind which the creation
and appreciation of haiku demand.'
R. H. Blyth, HAIKU, Volume 1, Hokuseido, 1949/1969, page162

one-line linked haiku december
6-23 2000

selflessness
clothes i don't want given to one who probably doesn't wanta pair of shoes begins to serve new feet
all day the republican observer observes the hand count first-time mother her sleepless nights watching
unallowed as a santa she sues the company for equal rightsbriefly the yellow light between red and green

persimmon tree how the leaves fall for the fruits to grow
walnut hulls swept from the old tin roofin the child's dream a mouse in a teacup floats downstream
porch light not as yet on a young neighbor calls flies herded out the door she fans herself with the swatter
both stay until the milking's over

one-line linked haiku december 18-24 2000

loneliness

nestled on lettuce scraps in the trash a broken heirloom cup
first frozen night a siren up the county road the only sound he hears in the house his own coughing
not from being alone from being misunderstood in the carefully tended flower garden a young dandelion
only by its distant sound a woodpecker

too cold at this computer to create and discuss haikubefore the cut a butterfly on the old-growth pine
photographs of the land lean against the dusty booksa place that now exists only in the mind
i even miss the cartoons i have to watch with little joshwith the kids i've never had an imaginary christmas

one-line linked haiku december 6-23 2000

grateful acceptance

after 6 months of apple hell friends bring a mac tho not up to para new year debts and the same old car but alive
on the sill for peanut butter 2 carolina wrens a song sparrowit too is a gift the cat dead on the doorstep
snowed in a hermit cancels tomorrow's appointment in town one bowl of quaker oats and then some drumming

this pilgrim descendent still
a pilgrim but not too grim
expensive on high the one heaterthe sweater my mother made a moth has also enjoyed
solstice couldn't have come at a better timesmall-town library more cookies than books in the drop-box
solitaire shapes in a cluttered room

one-line linked haiku december 18-24 2000

wordlessness

after a long hot sauna they step
outside to wind and stars
an abstract painting hangs without a titlehow still the forest glen became after the rifle shot
bruised the prisoner refuses to snitch just enough room in the cell for t'ai chi chuan
i stumble for the phone to a dial tone

nothing on the nightly news makes any sense at all in the hollow bamboo flute four seasons
couldn't help it a bang on the wall to stop the gnawing the room quiet now but the mind chatters on
ice this side of the pane dissipates tap water off a while winter drought a thin calf at his mother's side

one-line linked haiku december 23-26 2000

non-intellectuality
late night familiar sensation before a car lands off the road at the clank of coins the beggar's toothless grin
the birds fed and the dishes washed and the floor unswept hay for the horse and then my morning coffee
with bright eyes and bushy tail nancy's kid talk: just say no cat and i watching birds outside at the feeder

heavy snow predicted she's come and gone without calling me
has the puritan poet dropped out of tanka for now counting syllables the haijin comes up short wets his sleeves
valley's edge in rain a tiny spring reveals itself cocktail party she lets a strap drop off one shoulder
a neighbor refuses money for heavy-lifting

one-line linked haiku december 24-26 2000

contradiction

no self-substance but in summer heat how cool the shade
everything i have irreplaceable when brokenmonday at the office proud of her new fake nails
pretty sure of my views but what do i know the zen scholar puffed up over his article on egolessness
'born to be wild' a monkey with a jellyfish

press secretary after the broken hip reagan 'is fully alert'in his eyes as he recites the sutra a soulful look
'with god on our side' & no-god on their side the same dif an old coin 'e pluribus unum' all but gone
does the bitch too dream of heat in winter cold in summer over the bleak city's long shadows a harvest moon

one-line linked haiku december 23-26 2000

humor

both george and i tear up while
he resigns as governorcaught with his pants down he rises in the polls
now that my paintings fill the house i could paint the roof to be a slacker the thirteen-year-old's ambition
partial eclipse on cnn protection for eyes and cold feet dawn the dog's nose on mine wakes me up

the moon-viewing party spoiled by a leaky skylight
starved halfway decent stuff into junk foodexposed by the dirty tank-top shirt her washboard abs
interesting motions in the circumcised briefstill the testosterone level drops hard to be soft
the rich comedian hangs on his every word

one-line linked haiku december 24-26 2000

freedom

on the monk's smooth freshly-shaven
head spring sun
here alone without a holiday in sightthe buddhist nun her prayer to be reborn a man
a simple belief in what i don't have to do between earth and sky a full stomach and an empty mind
in my nest without the instinct

diana butterflies sweet on milkweed flutter in the lightpiney woods the dog's scent leads the way for us
freedom to link an old life to a run-down house in winter well past midpoint my life downhill from here
not a clue what'll be in thoughts moment to moment drinking only the empty half of the glass

3d in some forms of buddhism, full enlightenment
is not considered possible except for a man

one-line linked haiku december 28-31 2000

non-morality

the world in a day of water fire
ice & more mother naturethree chicks in the nest yesterday now only two
wind in the pines deer in a car's path car in a deer's path blown away by her blowing me off i watch my breath
i had to give up the haiku mags way before i got 'directv'wanting her to play my flute the pretty flutemaker

her lips red like fruit but already the corpse is rotting
still a toss-up whether the prez is the prez fingers crossed he pledges allegiance to the flag
to live and die in india overnight the world in flames but still nataraja dances
big award music of a white woman-hater

one-line linked haiku janurary 12-31 2001

simplicity

the sounds of the town hushed
now as the snow deepens
my glass ceiling wooden purple and cobwebbyspun from its own insides the silk home of the spider
an orange extension cord in and out of the sunjust what the body needs a cup of green tea to make it pee
cactus in the bathroom an old sheet for a curtain

cardless-carrying nobody just don't wanna bother w/nothinga thin wallet and a fat belly how does he do it
almost everything i need in one room if i could find anything they smash their wine glasses in the fireplace
after the usual adjustments the old pillows fit just right before sleep a last look at her photograph

one-line linked haiku janurary 14-31 2001

materiality

a cold rain i don't need things i
don't need just things i do needin just-spring a wheelbarrel-full of ideas
rough & tough in the empty space of haiku advice & consentsnowed in & all by myself i'm still a universe
nature clothes trowels trays flower & tomato seeds in my headthe housesitter surrounded by other people's thingsshelves lined with signed first editions by authors long dead
female ideas in dusty cupboards the study of wars 'blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth'
i yearn for spring for my well-traveled roadclear mountain water cupped in his hands he bows his head
especially to winter 'weeds' hi pretties

one-line linked haiku janurary 14-february 2 2001

love

where his wife's breasts used
to be he plants kisses
a daddy & a little boy at my door between stormsshe can't be more loved the daughter who doesn't know me
i feel for the hired shooter haywire all his lifeafter the shotgun wedding a honeymoon in a shotgun shack
better friends after the divorce the kids happier

romance literature & picket fences even well done the harm small-town ex-lovers now married to others
ten reasons not to fall head over heels green tips of a wild iris yellow pollen on a broad sunflower leaf
liberation in the nature of nature in the art of artists within the smooth pink lips of the conch a sea

one-line linked haiku janurary 15-february 3 2001

courage

no fear to express dissatisfaction
with haiku east and westneedle tracks and a voice gone to hell she still swings
black ice & white ice carrier with mail i don't huff & puff to get the patient's soft voice consoling the oncologistwhatever cool ideology or weather forecast
peer pressuresteep path down from the summit shakyamuni

when a union card meant risk of jail or job-loss my dad
examples made of the poor of the radicalsa man in a white loincloth walks to the ocean to make salt
her words all but ignored in the small gathering in the piney woods a coffee pot on the rustlers' campfire
but would peltier be safe on the outside